


Confidants, But Never Friends

by corgasbord



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Fluff, M/M, background saimota and saiouma, it's mostly fluff, the oumota can be easily read as platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 09:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14017227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corgasbord/pseuds/corgasbord
Summary: Kaito and Kokichi have trouble getting along even at the best of times.Shuuichi hopes, however foolishly, that they'll find the solution to their problems in a milk puzzle.





	Confidants, But Never Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idaate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idaate/gifts).



> i've been super busy lately, but i finally finished my (extremely late) birthday present for my good friend kiki! sorry that it took me so long, and happy late birthday - i hope you like it!

Exactly 3000 white puzzle pieces spill onto the living room’s low table in a jumbled heap. Kokichi tosses the box to the side as soon as the last one falls out, then rubs his hands together in a manner that could be excited or devious - Kaito can’t tell either way.

“This should be a piece of cake. Child’s play,” Kokichi declares confidently, only to go still and let his expression fall flat as his eyes meet Kaito’s from across the table. “Well, probably. I might get set back a little if you’re helping.”

“You think _you’d_ be the one getting set back?” Kaito scoffs. “I bet you’re not even gonna take this seriously. You’re gonna goof off or like, try to hide some of the pieces while I’m not looking or something.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Momo-chan,” Kokichi says, smoothing his hands over the pieces to spread them across the table. “I take puzzles _very_ seriously. More seriously than anybody, in fact.”

“Yeah, right. You don’t take anything seriously,” Kaito says. “And I thought I told you to quit fucking calling me that.”

Kokichi gives a vague, dismissive wave of his hand. “I take things seriously when I need to, but life wouldn’t be half as much fun if I was as grumpy as you all the time.” Kaito notes that Kokichi ignores his second remark entirely.

“I’m not grumpy, you’re just a goddamn pain in the ass.”

“A pain, huh. Maybe so,” Kokichi says, “but I’m an adorable pain in the ass. A pain you just can’t help but love, you know? A pain that Saihara-chan loves a whoooole lot.”

“Just because he loves you doesn’t mean I have to,” Kaito grumbles. He tilts his head down to survey the pieces spread out across the table, each identical in color yet different in shape. This will be a challenge, he thinks; not just because of the nature of the puzzle, but because he has to do it with Kokichi.

Why does he have to do it with Kokichi, again?

“You’re so mean, Momo-chan,” Kokichi whines. “You know, I could do this so much more easily by myself. If I didn’t just care about Saihara-chan soooo much, I wouldn’t even let you help.”

“You just don’t want to let me have all the credit,” Kaito says.

“Oh? I thought that that was true of you, though.”

Kaito’s eye twitches. “You know what, if you wanna work with me then how about you quit fucking yapping and actually get to it.”

“Man, when did you get such a stick up your ass, Momo-chan?” Kokichi drawls. “Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

“I said to can it,” Kaito says. He tries not to think about all the things he’d rather be doing - knocking the stupid smug smirk off of Kokichi’s face being at the top of that list - and instead sifts through the pieces on the table in search of a corner.

He gets the feeling that this is going to take a while.

\------

Shuuichi had approached them a few days ago while they were eating dinner and placed a box in the center of the table, prompting Kokichi and Kaito both to give him the same bewildered stare.

“It’s a milk puzzle,” he said, stating the obvious. “You both like puzzles, right?”

Kokichi examined his nails, unimpressed. “I hate puzzles, actually. They’re boring- too easy.”

“Well, this one has 3000 pieces,” Shuuichi continued, unfazed, “so I’m sure it won’t be too boring, even for you.” He had long since gotten used to Kokichi’s nonsense, and understood that anything he said had to be taken with a grain of salt. The patience he could exhibit at times never failed to astound Kaito.

“You just felt like giving us a gift?” Kokichi raised an eyebrow, an amused glint in his eye. “Aww, how sweet of you, Saihara-chan!”

A certain sort of sternness had crossed Shuuichi’s features then. He pursed his lips, released them, set his jaw. “It is a gift, yes. But there’s a reason I’m giving it to you both.”

Kaito spoke up, wiping stray grains of rice from around his mouth. “You expecting us to share it or something?”

“I thought you could work on it together,” Shuuichi said. “It would be nice for you two to have something you could cooperate on, for once.”

“Ooooh, I see, I see,” Kokichi said, nodding. “So this is a ploy to try and make us get along, huh? Well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming.”

Shuuichi’s frown deepened. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask. You’re both very important to me, so I don’t like knowing that you can’t be in the same room with one another for five minutes without fighting.”

“We can do at _least_ ten,” Kokichi corrected.

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Look, Shuuichi, I get what you’re trying to do, but I don’t think putting together a puzzle’s gonna somehow magically make Ouma less annoying. Besides, you’re starting to sound like a mom.”

“For once I can agree with the meathead,” Kokichi said, and leaned back to kick his legs up onto the table. “We’re your boyfriends, not your kindergarten-age children- well, one of us might act like it, but still.”

Kaito had been about to protest, but then he heard Shuuichi take a deep breath in through his nose. “Kokichi, take your feet off the table,” he began, voice steady. He crossed his arms, exhaled, and continued, “Look. I’m not saying you have to do this together or even at all, but… I’d like it if you at least tried, or put some effort into just getting along, at least.”

Kokichi and Kaito went silent at that, exchanging a brief, tense look. Shuuichi broke their silence with another sigh and turned to go, resigned, leaving the other two to sit and tersely flick their gazes between each other and the puzzle box.

They didn't touch it. Kaito only picked it up to move it to a shelf so that he didn't have to watch it gather dust, and there it stayed for the next few days.

He had pulled it down again eventually, if only because he couldn't stop thinking about what Shuuichi had said, not when Shuuichi had looked so tired and so earnest. Maybe it was only right to give it a shot, at the very least. Maybe he could spend a couple of hours tolerating Kokichi if it would make Shuuichi happy.

And when he had called Kokichi over, Kokichi had agreed more readily than he had anticipated, grinning in a way that suggested that he’d expected Kaito to cave all along.

\------

“I swear to god, some of these pieces are exactly the same,” Kaito remarks, holding a border piece between his fingers and squinting at it.

Kaito is working from one corner while Kokichi works from the other, the rest of the puzzle pieces spread out across the other end of the table. Kokichi clicks a piece into place at the same time that he clicks his tongue, condescending as always. “It’s a milk puzzle, dummy. The pieces are supposed to look the same- it’s all part of the challenge.”

“Oh, thanks for telling me, I had no fucking idea,” Kaito huffs. “Jeez, I can’t even make a casual observation without you riding my ass about it. It’s not like I haven’t done these before, y’know- I’m not an idiot.”

“Putting together a little jigsaw doesn’t make you any less of an idiot,” Kokichi says. “Putting together a big jigsaw doesn’t make you any less of an idiot, either! In fact, being able to sift through and put together a bunch of pieces has no bearing on whether you’re an idiot- which you are.” Another piece clicks into place, and Kaito narrows his eyes. “It’s a matter of how long you’re willing to sit around staring at a partially-completed picture.”

“I’m not an idiot, regardless of whether or not I’m good at puzzles- which I am,” Kaito retorts. “Did you know these are good for concentration training, too? Astronauts do this kinda stuff all the time.”

“Concentration training, huh.” Kokichi picks up a piece between his thumb and index finger and turns his wrist to look at it from different angles. “Funny, since you still seem to have your head up in the clouds all the time.”

“At least I’m able to focus on things that are important,” Kaito says, shooting Kokichi a pointed look.

“Important to _you_ , yes.”

“Yeah, important to me. Because I know what I stand for.”

“Is that so?” Kokichi muses, locking down the piece in his hand. “What do you stand for, I wonder.”

“For honesty, bravery, things like that. Y’know, the stuff a hero is supposed to stand for. The opposite of… whatever the hell it is you stand for,” Kaito says. He moves his eyes back to the puzzle and begins to pick up the slack again, if only because he’s determined not to let Kokichi do most of the work. “Actually, I don’t think you stand for anything at all.”

“Hm. Maybe not,” Kokichi says. “Who knows?”

“Exactly- that’s exactly fucking it!” Kaito jabs the curved edge of the piece in his hand in Kokichi’s direction. “No one knows what you’re about, or even whether you have any purpose or goals in the first place. You just go through life like it’s some game, and the people around you are just NPCs for you to mess with.”

Kokichi tilts his head. “Are you telling me they’re not?” Kaito’s lip curls at that, and Kokichi holds his hands up, a lax grin stretched across his face. “Man, you really need to loosen up. Didn’t I tell you earlier that life is waaay more fun when you stop being so grumpy?”

Gradually, Kaito wills himself to relax his shoulders. “I just don’t get it,” he says after a couple of deep breaths through his nose. “I don’t get you, man. I don’t get what makes you so bent on acting like your sole purpose is pissing people off.”

“And I don’t get what makes you so bent on acting like you’re an anime protagonist whose sole purpose is getting involved in other people’s business.” There’s a pause then, a complete silence that’s only broken after Kokichi reaches to sift through the pile of puzzle pieces again. “That’s a lie, though. I know what makes people like you tick, because unlike me, you’re an open book, Momo-chan.”

Kaito opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again. “It’s better than hiding behind lies all the time.”

“Interesting,” Kokichi says, and Kaito doesn’t know exactly what about what he just said was so damn interesting, but there’s a dubious note in Kokichi’s voice that suggests that he doesn’t believe him. Of course he wouldn’t believe Kaito, much less agree with him. Still, he doesn’t look up from the puzzle, and with all the holier-than-thou patience of a missionary he says, “If you say so, Momo-chan.”

\------

Kaito had never been able to understand Kokichi. From the moment he met him back in high school, Kokichi had proven a nuisance - no one liked him, really, and Kaito was fairly certain that he liked the conniving little bastard the least.

But Shuuichi was drawn to him, somehow. For all that Kaito and Shuuichi spent their high school years attached at the hip, Shuuichi spent time with Kokichi when he could, too. He would let Kokichi drag him around the campus and into all kinds of nonsense, deal with Kokichi’s endless stream of obnoxious questions while trying to study, or even waste his leisure time indulging Kokichi with silly card games.

Kaito didn’t get it. He didn’t know what it was about Kokichi that Shuuichi thought was worth all the trouble.

When he had asked Shuuichi why he hung out with someone like Kokichi, Shuuichi had simply shrugged, and with a sheepish smile answered, “I just think he’s interesting… he really isn’t that bad once you start getting to know him.”

Of course a detective would be hooked by a mystery. Of fucking course.

Kaito didn’t care much for mysteries. He liked to have all the answers, especially when it came to people. He liked being able to guess what was on someone’s mind, and he liked that most of the time he was good at it. He couldn’t do that with Kokichi. Kokichi was a frustrating enigma, a mystery that made a point of being absolutely pointless.

He was a mystery that Shuuichi wanted to solve, one way or another, in spite of how exasperated it would make him. He was a mystery that Shuuichi couldn’t pull himself out of.

“I have something kind of important to tell you,” Shuuichi had confessed to Kaito one day while they were alone in Shuuichi’s living room, seated across from each other at the low table with textbooks and notebooks lying open in front of them. Kaito glanced up with one eyebrow raised, and Shuuichi nervously pulled his lip between his teeth. “Something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about for a while, actually.”

Kaito flashed him a reassuring smile. “What’s up, dude?”

“I…” Shuuichi hesitated. “I think I like Ouma-kun.”

“Uh… okay?” Kaito said, tone peaking with his confusion. “I was able to figure as much, since you spend more time with him than anyone else wants to.”

“I…” Shuuichi fidgeted in place, gaze tilted down to the page in front of him. “I meant that I like him in, uh… well. The same way I like you.”

Kaito straightened at that, shoulders stiff. “You… wait, what?”

Shuuichi had remained silent, not looking at him, and when Kaito continued there was palpable dismay in his voice. “You _like_ like him- that fucking gremlin, of all people?!”

“It’s not that I like you any less than I did before,” Shuuichi assured him, holding his hands up defensively. “I mean, it’s… it’s because I care about you that I thought you should know.”

“Why-” Kaito paused to suck in a breath and count silently, grip on his pencil so tight he thought it might snap. “Why… why. It’s not- okay, you liking someone else isn’t a problem, but why does it have to be _him_ , of all people?”

Shuuichi had just shrugged helplessly. “I just… there’s something about him that pulls me in. I can’t help wanting to get closer to him, to learn more about him. And I realize that he can be… annoying, sometimes, but I know that he isn’t as bad as he makes himself out to be.”

Nothing about what Shuuichi just said should have made Kaito angry. He’d known this. But at that moment he couldn’t tear his mind away from thoughts of Shuuichi holding Kokichi’s hand and Shuuichi staking out secret places with him and Shuuichi lying in the grass at night and telling him things no one else was meant to hear - all of the things he normally did with Kaito.

His jaw had set involuntarily. “So,” he’d said, pointedly turning back to his work. “What do you plan to do about it?”

Shuuichi was unable to mask his surprise. “Huh?”

“I mean, you told me because you want my approval or whatever, right?” Kaito tried to relax his knuckles, twirling his pencil between his fingers. “You like him and you want something to come out of it.”

“N- Not necessarily,” Shuuichi stammered, eyes wide. “I just… I felt like it would be dishonest if I didn’t say anything about it, especially given how much time I spend with him.” At that, he averted his gaze, hands nervously twisting in his lap. “If it bothers you, I’ll leave it at that. I’m already perfectly happy with you as is.”

Kaito swallowed around the lump in his throat and stilled his hands. “S’fine. I don’t care.” It was at least half a lie, but he had told worse.

“Are… are you sure?” Shuuichi had seemed dubious, maybe rightfully so. “I know you don’t particularly care for him, so if it makes you uncomfortable, then-”

“I said it’s fine,” Kaito insisted, a little more forcefully. A little _too_ forcefully, perhaps, because Shuuichi winced. Kaito sighed again to calm himself and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I may not like Ouma at all, but I’m not gonna, like… tell you to stop hanging around him or quit feeling the way that you do. Because I like you more than I hate him, and I like it when you’re happy.” He tried for a smile that he could only hope was convincing. “You didn’t think I’d be mad at you over something dumb like that, did you?”

Even then, Kaito had realized that not too long before, he probably wouldn’t have taken it so well. Had it been their freshman year, when he knew little else besides violence, he might have yelled about it, might have tried to place the blame anywhere but himself, might have done something he regretted.

He’d wondered if Shuuichi realized that too when a smile broke out on his face, relieved and all too faithful, as he assured Kaito, “No. I wouldn’t have told you otherwise.”

That made something sit heavy in Kaito’s gut, tugging his focus from his homework. He’d ended up leaving Shuuichi’s place early, something sour coiling up his throat and leaving a rancid taste behind his tongue. He just didn’t understand it. Kokichi Ouma had no friends - few people could even tolerate him to begin with - and yet he somehow managed to divide the attention of the person who meant the most to Kaito.

Fleetingly, he had to wonder if the little bastard was doing it just to spite him.

He shook those thoughts away rapidly, though, along with any hint of awareness of his own envy. This wasn’t jealousy, no. He was sure he wouldn’t care if it were anyone else, after all, because he liked all of Shuuichi’s other friends. It was only Kokichi who rubbed him the wrong way. Kokichi was, simply put, someone that Shuuichi was far too good for. 

He stubbornly maintained that, even after the weeks that followed, after months where he watched Kokichi cling to Shuuichi’s arm and whisper sweet nothings into his ear and cause him to laugh the way Kaito thought that only he himself could.

Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, had nothing to be jealous of.

\------

“You know,” Kaito says, blunt and abrupt, “I never did get how you managed to win Shuuichi over.”

Kokichi pauses, batting his lashes. “Why, with my overflowing charm and irresistible good looks, of course! Who could say no to a face like this?” He cups his face with one palm and smiles innocently for emphasis.

“I could,” Kaito scoffs. “There is nothing remotely attractive about you.”

“Well, I don’t think looks have ever mattered much to Saihara-chan, since he started dating you first.”

Kaito balks. “Hey, fuck you! I’m good-looking as hell, and Shuuichi knows it!”

“Yeah, nothing screams ‘attractive’ like a guy who doesn’t know how to put his jacket on right and styles his hair like,” Kokichi gestures vaguely, “you know. Like that.”

“It looks cool,” Kaito sputters, “both the jacket _and_ the hair. Besides, you don’t have any room to talk shit about the way I dress.”

“Hm, I guess not,” Kokichi says, completely unbothered. His eyes flick down to the puzzle, which is coming together towards the middle, slowly but surely. “But you know, I really do think that if you got a better look, it would at least offset that unattractive personality of yours.”

“I’m the one with the unattractive personality?” Kaito almost laughs. “You’re the one who doesn’t have any fucking friends, so I think I’m doing pretty good, actually.”

Kokichi’s expression doesn’t change. “Do you think that having friends makes you a better person?”

“Well, I mean. At the very least it means more people think I’m a good person,” Kaito says. “I think the fact that people actually like me says a lot.”

“Oh, it does say a lot,” Kokichi says with a nod. “It tells me that you care about what other people think a liiiittle too much.”

Kaito frowns. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re like any piece of this puzzle.” Kokichi holds up a piece to demonstrate his point. “You try soooo hard to stand out. And to your credit, you’ve managed to trick a few people into believing that you do.” He turns the little cardboard shape this way and that. “They look at you and they think that your shape is especially unique, maybe. That with your edges you could be the thing holding them all together. But the truth of the matter is that you need them as much as they need you. Without other people to fit in with, you’re purposeless. Useless.”

Kokichi scans the table before fitting the piece in neatly alongside two others. “You, Kaito Momota, are someone whose self-worth is built entirely around others. And if you ask me, I don’t think surrounding yourself with people who are gonna rely on you and stroke your ego makes you a good person.”

For a few moments, Kaito can only gawk. Then he clamps his teeth down, grinding them together. “Oh, yeah?” He leans over the table, fist curling around the piece in his hand. “What the hell does that make you, then?”

“Oh, me? I’m toootally evil,” Kokichi says with a wide smile. “You wanna know what the biggest difference between me and you is, Momo-chan?” He bends forward almost close enough to meet Kaito in the middle of the table, ink-purple eyes boring into his own. “I’ve never once tried to claim I’m a good person.”

“I don’t have to claim anything,” Kaito says defensively, “I _am_ a good person, and I don’t care what the hell you have to say about it.”

“Hmm.” Kokichi rests back on his heels. “You know, I can’t stand liars… but I think the worst kinds of liars are the people who lie to themselves.”

Kaito bristles. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Oh, did I hit a nerve?” Kokichi smirks. “Maybe you’re more self-aware than I thought after all.”

Kaito brings his hand down hard on the table, causing the loose puzzle pieces to jump. “I said,” he starts, grabbing Kokichi’s collar with his free hand to haul him up to his knees, “shut the fuck up.”

“Or what?” Kokichi sneers, letting his arms dangle limply. “Are you gonna hit me?”

Kaito’s fingers twitch, but he stays silent, seething at Kokichi’s digs. Kokichi continues, “What would Saihara-chan have to say about that, do you think? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t think settling all your problems with violence makes you a good person.”

It’s tempting, more tempting than he’d like to admit. He could send Kokichi sprawling across the living room floor if he wanted to, and they both know it.

His fingers uncurl, releasing Kokichi’s collar, and he stands up. “I’ll be back,” he says tersely, and without waiting to see Kokichi’s reaction, he slides on a pair of slippers and leaves the apartment. What he needs, he thinks, is a few minutes of peace and quiet.

\------

The last time Kokichi and Kaito did what could loosely be defined as “cooperating” was exactly two weeks ago, when they had all moved into their current apartment together.

Most of the furniture was already in place, which left them the task of hauling up the rest of their belongings in boxes. Neither Shuuichi nor Kaito owned much more than they needed to, but Kokichi was a different story. Kokichi had boxes worth of stuff to carry, all marked with his name and various warnings to keep out, but for some reason he was doing the least of the work. This aggravated Kaito to no end.

He spent the day hauling in boxes with Shuuichi and yelling at Kokichi whenever he got under their feet or tried to boss them around (which was often). Only later, when most of their things had been unpacked, did he spot Kokichi moving about with any sense of urgency.

“What’s the matter,” he’d asked from his perch on the couch as Kokichi passed through the living room for the fourth time. “You looking for something?”

Kokichi had stopped to cast him an apathetic look, but there was something in his eyes that suggested that he needed something. “Oh, nothing in particular,” Kokichi said dismissively. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“Maybe you’d actually know where shit was if you’d bothered to help us unpack,” Kaito remarked.

“I was _very_ helpful, actually,” Kokichi insisted, sticking his tongue out. “I at least unpacked my own things, I didn’t want anyone else messing with them!”

“So you handled everything that was yours, then,” Kaito mused. He’d paused then, assessing Kokichi carefully. “You know, if you want help finding something, I could probably give you a hand.”

Kokichi’s eyebrows arched disbelievingly. “And why would I want your help with anything?”

“Because I have a pretty good idea where most things are,” Kaito said, standing up, “and maybe whatever it is you lost got mixed up with something else.”

Kokichi stared at Kaito for a minute, his expression unreadable. “A scarf,” he finally said, turning to head back down the tiny hallway. “You know, the checkered one.”

“Oh,” Kaito said. “You mean the one you always wore in high school?”

“The very same,” Kokichi called over his shoulder as he headed into their shared bedroom.

Kaito followed him. “I thought you’d gotten rid of that thing, since you don’t really wear it anymore,” he said. “Didn’t take you as the kind of guy to be sentimental about things like that.”

Kokichi looked at him for a moment, lips pursed and brow slightly drawn, before turning to root through the dresser. “Well, the more you know, right?” he muttered, rummaging through the clothes Shuuichi had neatly folded and ignoring Kaito’s squawk of protest. “Or maybe I just happen to like hanging onto things- I’m greedy like that, y’know.”

“Hey, Shuuichi worked hard getting shit put away. Try not to mess it up,” Kaito scolded him. “Actually, speaking of Shuuichi, couldn’t you just ask him?”

“He’s still out running errands, and I don’t really feel like sitting around and waiting for him to come back,” Kokichi said. “It’ll be fiiiine, I’m not gonna make a mess. I just like to know where my things are.”

Kaito watched Kokichi’s hands dart around in the dresser for a minute or so. There was an oddly focused look on his face, and Kaito thought to himself again how odd it was for Kokichi to seem actually concerned about anything. The notion that Kokichi harbored an attachment to anything, material or not, boggled his mind. 

After a period of silence, Kaito had moved to the closet and wordlessly begun digging through it. Off to the side, Kokichi’s rustling noises stopped for a few moments, but Kaito didn’t turn to see the odd stare he was almost certainly receiving. He wouldn’t know how to justify himself if he did, he thought - even he wasn’t sure what compelled him to help when he could more easily have gone back to the couch and waited for Shuuichi’s return. Maybe it was just because he didn’t want to hear Kokichi whining about losing track of some ratty piece of clothing, or maybe he was just feeling nice.

He didn’t think about how unsettled it made him to see Kokichi fret over something in a manner so withdrawn it could only be genuine.

The hunt for Kokichi’s scarf ended when Kaito found it in the bathroom of all places, buried in a laundry basket under a mound of towels that needed to be washed, and Kokichi had plucked it from between his fingers with a gasp. “Whoa, you found it! I guess you’re not so useless after all, Momo-chan.”

Kaito gaped at him as he pranced away, then called after him, “Hey, you could’ve at least thanked me, you little prick!”

Kokichi hadn’t even gone on to wear the thing, either. He’d disappeared into his room, likely tucking it away with all his other odds and ends that he never touched, and Kaito was left feeling oddly… cheated.

Cheated out of what, though? An expression of gratitude? A glimpse at what Kokichi was really thinking for once?

Kaito thought about how Kokichi’s eyes had lit up when his scarf was found, and how they usually didn’t whenever he smiled. He dismissed the twisting in his gut as irritation.

\------

Kaito isn’t paying attention to where his feet take him. It doesn’t matter, really - anywhere’s fine, as long as it’s away from that little hellspawn. As long as it’s somewhere he can actually think straight and not want to punch something. He likes to think he’s gotten much better about stopping himself from punching everything that makes him angry, at least.

He contemplates Kokichi as he walks, shoving his fists into his pockets and grumbling the whole time. He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get what Kokichi’s problem is, or why he’s so bent on pissing everyone on the planet off who isn’t named Shuuichi Saihara. He doesn’t get why Kokichi seems especially intent on making him miserable, specifically.

Come to think of it, he doesn’t get what’s been up with him today, of all days. Kokichi frequently makes a pest of himself but rarely in such a cutting manner. It isn’t often that his jabs are so personal, so… full of resentment.

Resentment. Is that it? Does Kokichi resent him? Is he bothered that he has to share a living space with the person Shuuichi liked first? That would be pretty stupid, considering…

Kaito halts his train of thought at the same time he halts in the middle of the sidewalk. No, he’s not like Kokichi in that regard. He’s already told himself plenty of times that he has reasons to resent Kokichi that have nothing to do with Shuuichi. Like his dishonesty, for example, and his insensitivity, and his need to always be right no matter what, and-

Kaito shakes his head and looks up. Just up ahead and off to his left, he spots a convenience store, so he walks the rest of the way there with no particular aim but to find a distraction.

The tinkling of a bell greets him as he enters, and he offers a nod to the cashier before shuffling off between the shelves in the back. Maybe he’ll get something to drink. As he scans the lines of bottles enclosed behind the transparent refrigerator doors, his mind wanders back to what will be waiting for him when he comes home.

He wonders if Kokichi was in a bad mood today or something. It’s hard to tell with him. Does he even have bad moods? He’s always so full of energy - energy that he dedicates solely to being annoying - that it’s difficult to imagine him having an off day.

For some reason, his mind wanders back to two weeks ago, to that odd look Kokichi had gotten in his eyes at the threat of losing something. It was barely detectable, but it was there nonetheless - proof that Kokichi knows what attachment feels like, however mundane, and perhaps even proof that he doesn’t like that feeling.

Kokichi never lets himself be open. Kokichi never lets himself be genuine. Kaito has never been able to understand why.

Or maybe he’s never bothered to. Maybe Kokichi is part of the same puzzle Kaito was cut out of, a piece that never seemed to fit in anywhere, a piece that Kaito took to be misshapen simply because it wouldn’t let itself fit.

Kaito sighs and drags a hand through his hair, shaking a few knots loose along the way. He’s never been sure what exactly it is that Shuuichi sees in Kokichi, but Shuuichi has always been the observant one between the two of them. Shuuichi is smart. Shuuichi may very well have the best judgement of anyone Kaito’s ever met… or the worst.

He reaches into one of the fridges to grab a bottle of oolong tea, and after a reluctant pause, he finds himself taking two. A peace offering of sorts, he supposes, because maybe it’s time he at least attempted to trust Shuuichi’s judgement.

He comes back to the apartment with tea and a large bag of chips, which he unceremoniously drops next to the table as he sits back down. Kokichi is still working, but he looks up as Kaito makes his entrance, one eyebrow arched. “Oh, you came back?”

Kaito snorts. “What, did you think I’d just leave forever?”

“Well, a boy can hope!” Kokichi says cheerfully.

Instead of bristling, Kaito elects to ignore him and hands him the bottle of tea instead. “Here.”

Kokichi blinks, then takes it, eyeing it skeptically. “Is this an attempt to poison me, Momo-chan?”

“It’s sealed, dumbass,” Kaito says, uncapping the other bottle. “I just bought these.”

“Hm. Suspicious.”

Kaito stops in the middle of taking a sip to roll his eyes. “What, you want this one instead, now that I’ve had some of it?”

Kokichi tilts his head, then hums, “Nah. I’ll take the risk of getting poisoned over tasting your backwash.”

“I don’t backwash,” Kaito grumbles, but Kokichi ignores him and grabs the chips, pulling the bag open with a loud _pop_.

“These are my least favorite flavor, by the way,” Kokichi says, even as he reaches into the bag and shoves a handful into his mouth.

“Buy your own next time, then,” Kaito huffs, making a point not to let himself get agitated. “Anyway, back to work.”

Kokichi’s eyes narrow. “You got over yourself in record time, Momo-chan. Normally that takes at least a few hours.”

“Yeah, well, I decided I’ve got better things to worry about,” Kaito says with a shrug.

“Like what, putting together a puzzle?” Kokichi scoffs. “You’re even more simple-minded than I thought.”

“Like doing what Shuuichi wanted us to do,” Kaito says. “Which… yeah, is putting together a puzzle, but I figured out that doing it just to make a point kinda defeats the purpose. We have to actually make an effort to play nice.” He cracks his knuckles and reaches for a new piece. “So that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Kokichi regards him with something like surprise, though it’s hard to get a read on him. It’s gone in a second anyway, replaced with a toothy smile. “You really do eat that ‘power of friendship’ crap right up, don’t you?”

“That’s not the point,” Kaito says. “The point is that I don’t get you, Ouma, but the least I can do is try to.”

Kokichi’s face goes blank again, his eyes lidding as though he’s bored. When he speaks up again, his voice is low and monotonous. “You’re even weirder than I thought, Momo-chan.”

“Maybe,” Kaito says, “but it’s not like you’re one to talk.” It still feels odd to acknowledge that they have anything in common, but maybe it’ll help. Maybe it’ll be good not just for Shuuichi, but for them, too.

“Hm. Fair enough.” Slowly, Kokichi lets his back straighten and the grin return to his face. “I guess this also means you’re less boring than I took you for, Momo-chan. You just might entertain me after all!”

For once, Kaito doesn’t protest. If Kokichi wants to treat life like a game, then Kaito is going to learn the rules he plays by.

He’ll find a place where they can fit together, one way or another.

\------

Shuuichi comes home after dark to a nearly-completed puzzle and a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Both Kaito and Kokichi look up at him to see him absolutely stunned. “Hey, Shuuichi,” Kaito says with a little wave. “Check this out, we’re down to the last piece!”

“Mostly thanks to my efforts,” Kokichi says. “Which is why I should be the one to put the last piece in.”

“No way, man. I did plenty of the work, you saw that for yourself!”

“You had to get up and leave part of the way through, though.”

“Only because you were pissing me off.”

Shuuichi watches their back-and-forth for a few moments, then clears his throat to draw their attention. “You… did all of this in one day?”

“Duh,” Kokichi says, folding his hands behind his head. “I told you, Saihara-chan, this sort of thing is easy-peasy for me!”

“And me,” Kaito cuts in. “Like I said, I helped. It was definitely fifty-fifty.”

Shuuichi is taken aback by the fact that Kaito is allowing Kokichi to share an equal part of the credit, but even more so by the fact that they actually cooperated in the first place. He had been sure that they _could_ , of course, but the question was whether or not they _would_.

Needless to say, the fact that they chose to work together is a pleasant surprise.

As the two of them continue to make snide jabs at each other, Shuuichi wordlessly steps forward, picks up the final piece, and clicks it into place himself.

Kaito and Kokichi both turn to Shuuichi, looking as though he’d just broken something valuable, but he offers them a kind smile in return. “That saves you the trouble of arguing about it, right?” They only pout in response, so he continues with a sheepish chuckle, “In any case, I’m proud of you both, for working together on that. It may not seem like a big deal, but… I’m glad you were able to do that.”

“‘Course we were. I can handle anything, even being stuck with this buffoon for hours,” Kokichi says. “What is it you like to say, Momo-chan? The impossible is possible?”

“Hey, don’t make fun of me!” Kaito barks, but there’s little bite in his voice. Kokichi just laughs, and Shuuichi has to hide his own laughter behind a closed fist.

Maybe the impossible truly is possible. Maybe two odd puzzle pieces can fit themselves together. Maybe Kaito and Kokichi can come to like each other, one day.

_Someday, perhaps,_ Shuuichi thinks as Kaito throws an empty plastic bottle at Kokichi and Kokichi dodges it with a cackle. _One can hope._

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to grayimperia for betaing!


End file.
